


The Clothes Make the Man

by hollyandvice (hiasobi_writes)



Series: Self Indulgent Leverage/Stargate fics [6]
Category: Leverage, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-12-07 23:27:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11634153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiasobi_writes/pseuds/hollyandvice
Summary: Eliot knows he's got about ninety-six seconds before the mark shows up, and he can hear Nate calling out sharp commands in his ear to get rid of the unexpected element, but if there's two things Eliot knows about Daniel, they're that he can roll with the punches and that he wouldn't be here without a good reason.When Daniel shows up to ask for help, Eliot can't find it in him to refuse.





	The Clothes Make the Man

**Author's Note:**

> I'm only up to S5 of SG-1, but these fics wanted to be written, so I apologize for what will undoubtedly be inconsistencies with canon. Takes place post-series for SG-1, somewhere around S2 for Leverage.

When Eliot turns to see not the mark, but _Daniel Jackson_ of all people, his heart stops in his chest. He hasn't changed a bit, save the hint of gray at his temples (and isn't that just a kicker, the extent to which he seems to have taken on even this part of Jack), and for a second Eliot is a Lieutenant again, ready to drop into line and follow orders, even if they do sometimes come from wide-eyed archaeologists instead of the grumpy colonels they're supposed to come from.

Colonels. _Jack_.

Eliot knows he's got about ninety-six seconds before the mark shows up, and he can hear Nate calling out sharp commands in his ear to get rid of the unexpected element, but if there's two things Eliot knows about Daniel, they're that he can roll with the punches and that he wouldn't be here without a good reason.

The decision is instantaneous. "Jack?" he asks.

Daniel just nods, the motion saying more than words ever could.

Eliot swears. "Sam? Murray?"

Daniel's lips take on a tightly amused tilt at the second name, but he shakes his head. "Both safe, as far as I know. It's just Jack."

"How much time do we have?"

"Seventy-two hours. Well, sixty-eight at this point."

Eliot glances over his shoulder, eyes finding the mark easily. He clenches his jaw and turns back to Daniel. He pulls his earbud out and wraps it tight in his hand, speaking as softly as possible while he prays that Hardison won't have time to boost the range on the earbud in time to catch what he and Daniel are saying. "How much do you know about my new team?"

"All of it."

Eliot nods. "Then if you want me in, I need two hours with them and for you to trust me and play along for the next hour."

Daniel nods back. "Done."

Eliot feels his eyes go wide. "That bad?"

"That bad."

Eliot swears again even as he moves to replace the earbud in his ear as surreptitiously as possible. "Alright. Just… just follow my lead, alright?"

Daniel nods, hand twitching up to his glasses to adjust them just slightly in a nervous tic that Eliot still recognizes. "You got it."

"Mr. Jacobsen."

Eliot plasters on a smile as he turns to face the mark. "Mr. Conrad," he says through a smile that feels more forced than normal. "Thank you for meeting me on such short notice."

Conrad nods, turning an interested eye on Daniel. "A friend?"

"A second opinion," Eliot says, knowing Nate will have his head for this and not really able to find it in him to care. "It's been awhile since I was able to appraise a piece this… valuable, and I thought Dr. Michaels' insight might be helpful." Eliot can hear Hardison muttering under his breath through the earpiece about creating aliases without going through him first, but Eliot tunes him out, plastering a smile on his face. "Shall we?"

Conrad smiles, something dangerous in the glint of his teeth. "Let's."

Daniel stays a step behind and to the right of Eliot, falling into step as easily as breathing, and Eliot hates the way it makes him long for the bright flash of the Stargate's event horizon in his life again.

In the end, it takes a few tiny, half-forgotten signals and Daniel's willingness and ability to read a situation that gets them through the whole ordeal, and Eliot's wound tighter than a spring by the time they lose their tail and rendezvous with the rest of his team. Nate looks just as agitated as he himself feels, maybe moreso, but Eliot doesn't really care.

"Look, Nate," he says while Daniel waits for him outside the van, "I know what you're going to say, and I have to tell you, I don't actually care right now."

Nate's eyes go wide with surprise. "Come again?"

"An old army buddy of mine's in trouble. Can you finish the con without me?"

"Eliot—"

"Nate. Can you do it without me?"

Nate stares at him. "It's that important?"

"It's that important."

Nate's quiet for a long time, his mind clearly ticking over. Then he nods. "We can."

Eliot nods back, pulling out his earpiece and handing it to a stunned looking Hardison. "Good. Don't get yourselves killed while I'm gone, you hear me?"

"Eliot—" Hardison starts, but Eliot shakes his head.

"I wouldn't bail for anything less than this, Hardison. Jack and his team are the only people left in this world that I would do this for other than you guys, you got it? He needs me, and that's good enough for me."

Hardison just goes on staring, something going tight around his eyes. When Parker places her hand on Hardison's shoulder and he nods, it feels like the last two pieces of permission Eliot needs.

Eliot gives a tiny, tight smile. "I'll be back in four days."

Eliot catches the way Daniel's lips quirk up in a smile, because they both know this is going to take more than the seventy-two-now-sixty-seven hours they have. It relaxes something in his gut to know that things at the SGC haven't changed all that much since he's been gone.

He turns back to his team, trying to find the words to tell them that this is important enough to leave them behind, but then, he supposes the fact that he's leaving is proof enough. "See you later, then," he mutters, and then he's out of the van and marching with Daniel, away toward wherever his car is parked.

"By the way," he says, "we might want to grab something from our old friends, just to make sure my team's not tracking me."

Daniel quirks an eyebrow at him. "You do realize we still have an open file on you, right? We know what Alec Hardison is capable of. Don't worry, Sam gave me a tech scrubber from some of our old friends. They won't be able to track you."

Eliot nods. "Good. Then let's get to it."

Daniel's lips thin. "Mission briefing's in the car. Read up and let me know what you'll need."

"You got it."

"And, by the way, I hope you know Jack really does approve of the work you've been doing since you met up with Ford."

Eliot snorts. "That why he never tried to track me down?"

"He had his hands tied, Eliot. After what happened on P45-289—"

"Save it, Daniel, okay? You did a hell of a job faking it in there with the mark even though I _know_ you hate what I do, but—"

"I never said that." Daniel's knuckles are white on the steering wheel. "I know you did everything you could, and I looked up your file before I came. I know they've been good to you. I wouldn't jeopardize that, not even for Jack."

Eliot's quiet. He knows Daniel wouldn't be here if it wasn't important, and Jack did save his ass more times than Eliot himself can count. He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and says the one thing he never thought he would say to Daniel. "Thank you. For doing that. I know it wasn't what you came out here to do."

"Maybe not. But if it gets Jack back in one piece, I can't say I'll regret it."

Eliot nods again taking the words for what they are. A peace offering, and a chance to put his heartache behind him for real this time. "Then let's go get him back."

**Author's Note:**

> [Come hang with me on tumblr!](http://hollyandvice.tumblr.com/)


End file.
